Feargal O'Rourke

Feargal O'Rourke (born 3 August 1964) is an Irish accountant and corporate tax expert, who was the managing partner of PwC in Ireland. He developed the Double Irish arrangement used by U.S. firms such as Apple, Google and Facebook in Ireland, and a leader in the development of corporate tax planning tools, and tax legislation, for U.S. multinationals in Ireland. of the "Double Irish" base erosion and profit shifting ("BEPS") tool, as used by U.S. multinationals in Ireland such as Google, a known client of O'Rourke's, Facebook, and Apple.

With pressure on the Dutch Government to stop functioning as a tax avoidance conduit, in 2010 O'Rourke successfully lobbied for withholding taxes paid on royalties paid out of Ireland to be scrapped altogether [removing the need for the Dutch Sandwich component of the double Irish BEPS tool]. — Richard Brooks, Bean Counters: The Triumph of the Accountants and how they broke Capitalism (June 2018) is the largest corporate tax fine in history. O'Rourke's PwC (Ireland) tax practice represented the Irish State in its tax defence, during the commission's Apple investigation. O'Rourke rejects the labels, but also rejects the notion that the Irish tax code shouldn't legally, and transparently, exploit loopholes in the US tax code:

Experts note the potency of Ireland's corporation tax regime, and O'Rourke's BEPS tools, as opposed to the headline 12.5% corporate tax rate.

Legacy

The ETRs of 0–2.5% from O'Rourke's BEPS tools have drawn international criticism. Academic research has shown Ireland as a major tax haven, and in June 2018 tax academics showed Ireland to be the largest global tax haven, helping U.S. multinationals to shield over $100 billion in annual profits from Irish and U.S. taxation.

O'Rourke's defense of Ireland's low corporate ETRs for U.S.–controlled multinationals is part of Ireland's "green jersey agenda" to advance "Ireland Inc." over other potential consequences, such as reputation or financial risk, which is not an uncommon political strategy in Ireland.

Regardless of the tax losses to other nations, O'Rourke's BEPS tools have brought prosperity to Ireland. 25 of Ireland's top 50 firms (by turnover) are U.S.–controlled multinationals, employing one quarter of Ireland's private sector workforce, paying 80% of Irish business taxes, and creating 57% of Irish private sector non-farm value-add in Ireland. and on Irish corporate taxation policy. O'Rourke has sat on several major Irish State taxation review groups, including the major 2009 Commission on Taxation, and is one of the 5 people named in Ireland's "Independent Persons of Standing" list under the Double Taxation Arbitration Convention.

In February 2014, he was named in The Irish Times 50 people who run Ireland list. O'Rourke sits on the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, the lobby group for U.S. multinationals in Ireland. In March 2018, he noted the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 will be a challenge to Ireland's U.S. economic model but that Ireland should be able to withstand it. In April 2018, he advised that the Irish State should build a rainy day fund. O'Rourke maintains an active Twitter account.